Race Recap + Another Microadventure

Race Recap:
Dirty Spokes Mayhem on the Mountain 5 Mile Trail Race

My first race of 2016 was also the first race of the Dirty Spokes Series. Mayhem on the Mountain was a brand new race on brand new trails at Sawnee Mountain, and now the series will start and end there. I got out on the new trails a week before the race to pre-run the course and I was really glad that I did. It's a straight forward course that follows the ridgeline trail around the mountain. It doesn't have a ton of overall vertical but there is plenty of up and down. I'd say it's the toughest Dirty Spokes or XTERRA course that they have had so far. Everything is steep. There's nothing overly long, but all the climbs are steep and they come at you one after the other.

The course was laid out on the entirely new trail system that's just been finished at Sawnee Mountain. The mountain has two peaks and is bisected by Bettis Tribble Gap road. The old trails at Sawnee, where the final race of the Dirty Spokes series is held, feature a four mile loop that goes up to the summit and has a cool lookout called the 'Indian Seats' where you can see the North Georgia Mountains and surrounding towns.

The new trails are on the other side of Bettis Tribble Gap and run around the mountain, climbing up to near the summit on the backside. Laid out in a counter clockwise direction, the course saw the majority of the climbing spread out over the first three-ish miles. Normally, that would be a good thing, but since it was all short steep climbs and then short drops, it really beat you up by the time you got to the top. Still, that's better than grinding out a two mile climb and then dealing with the short steep up and downs. I guess that's the only way the course would have been harder. Remind me NOT to suggest that.

I fell back into my normal ritual pretty easily pre-race. Pasta party Friday night then, of course, we were late getting out the door on race day. I had every intention of getting to the park at 7:30 to give myself an hour before the race started, but we didn't get there until 7:45 which meant we had to park at the main lot and take a shuttle. I take full responsibility for being late and I'm super thankful that Forsyth county runs shuttle vans so we still made it there in time to get my number and do a short warm up.

When we arrived, I made my way to check-in where Linda from Dirty Spokes decided to ratchet up the pressure nice and early by giving me bib number 1.

I caught up with Mitch Novy, one of my running buddies down here. We both ran for Saucony Hurricanes for a little while before he left to join Reckless Running and now he's running for Honeyy Stinger, which is pretty sweet. I mean they are no Untapped Waffles but Stinger Waffles are pretty good. Mitch and I caught up for a bit and did a short warm up jog on the last bit of the course. Neither of us were big fans of that, since the final mile or so of the course was downhill, which meant we were warming up by running up hill...no fun.

They ended up separating the two races (long course - 5.1 miles & short 3.1) by about 10 minutes to allow for spacing going into the trails. This was a really good idea because the parking lot/driveway area is pretty limited, so there wasn't a lot of space to spread things out before getting into the woods. Fortunately the trail was pretty wide, three to five feet probably. That's wider than a lot of the mountain bike trails in the area. You probably couldn't run side by side he whole way but at least there was enough room to pass.

At the start I got out to the front pretty quickly then settled down to see if anyone was going to hammer early on. I was looking forward to running with Mitch, but since he was in the short race I was on my own. The other couple of guys settled in behind me and we went into the woods single file in a lead group of three with everyone else strung out behind us. I tried to stay relaxed early on, knowing what was in store for me later, and settled into a nice rhythm for the first mile or so. I gave it a little bit of gas at the top of the first couple of short climbs and ended up opening up a little bit of a gap. I kept telling myself to stay relaxed and just get through the climbs. I tried to keep a similar effort and tempo so that while the climbs would slow me down, they wouldn't throw me totally off rhythm.

Side note: For the life of me I cannot spell the word rhythm.

Just before we got to the 1.5 mile split where the 5k took a cut through trail we dropped onto a double track section that looked like an old jeep road. After about 200 yards on the jeep road we hit the first of a couple of nasty switchbacks that felt like they were nearly vertical. Once I crested that and came down the other side I had a gradual climb up to the split. At that point I glanced back to see where the other guys were, and to my surprise they were out of sight. That was a pretty good feeling, knowing that I still had to run the toughest part of the course. I took a deep breath/sigh of relief as I felt like as long as I stayed on two feet and made it too the top in first that no one would be able to stay with me on the descent.

The next mile and a half was a real grind. A lot of short steep climbs then short steep descents, which absolutely hammer your legs. There was one particularly nasty set of switchbacks that I forgot about, which took me a minute or two to recover from before I settled back in. When I reached the top, I felt like I was crawling but I knew once I got over it I'd be able to get rolling. I tried to recover a little bit after we crossed over the lookout tower road then really got on the gas once I started going down. I was hammering at this point. The fresh trail was pretty well cut so the footing was really good despite all the rain we've been having lately. I had a couple of moments where I did't fully trust putting all my weight into the corners, but my LaSportia Mutants were super stable and did a nice job of gripping but staying responsive and quick.

When I came up on the short course again I went to work on catching as many of the short course runners as I could before the finish. I ran into a little trouble on a short false flat where I was expecting things to stay gradually downhill. I was a little worried that I over cooked it but the trail dropped back down shortly after and I was able to let gravity do most of the work. With about 300 meters to go I set my mind on catching one last 3 miler but he must have heard my foot steps thundering down the mountain behind him because he took off. We were both all out sprinting down this rocking trail toward the finish. He held me off and I congratulated him on a great finish after I crossed the line.

I ended up running 35:11 for 5.1 so I was a shade under seven-minute pace. On that course, I will certainly take it. Since it was the first race on those trails and technically the first time they were open to the public that's the course record. Next year I'll have to shoot for sub 35. I was really happy to get the win and run pretty well on a tough course. I wasn't quite sure what to except with it being the first race of the year, but it was a good solid way to start the year off.

After the race Amanda and I continued our search for good donuts with a trip to Dutch Monkey Donuts. I went with the maple vanilla swirl and it was excellent. We decided to take a day trip up to Chattanooga since we were already out that direction. We really just walked around downtown and did a little window shopping then headed over to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the Patriots game and eat wings. Two nice back to back weekends to start the offseason.

mmmmmm...donuts

I'm not 100 percent sure what I've got next on the docket. I'll definitely be running all the Dirty Spokes and XTERRA races this year, so Heritage Park will probably be the next race. Right now my first big goal race will be River Gorge and then probably Peach Jam after that. I am also kicking around the idea of doing a 55 mile 'gravel grinder' on the bike in February. We shall see.

Almost forgot...here's what the race looked like on Strava (go easy on me New Englanders. I didn't decide it was a mountain!)

A Weekend Away: Asheville, NC

I'm a little behind on my 2015 recap & 2016 plans but Amanda and I decided to get an early jump on our adventures with a trip to Asheville, N.C. last weekend. That's the freshest thing in my mind so here we go.

I've wanted to check out Asheville for a while now but for one reason or another had never made the journey up there. With the cyclocross national championships at the Biltmore Estate, it seemed like a perfect time make the trip. It ended up being a little closer than I thought it was going to be, just under three hours. Amanda and I jumped in the car early on Saturday morning and drove up through north Georgia into North Carolina and then east to Asheville. We drove over Tallulah Gorge in some crazy fog (probably should have taken a picture) which was super creepy early in the morning. That was my favorite part of the drive. Amanda's was the fact that each tiny town we drove through had it's one unique, and ridiculously named, Mexican restaurant.

Our first stop was downtown. We actually made pretty quick work of the downtown area. We walked around and checked out all the small shops. It was impressive to see how invested in local businesses and arts the city was. I think we saw three different independent book stores, which was definitely different since we live in the definition of suburban sprawl.

After walking around for a bit and grabbing lunch we headed to the Blue Ridge Parkway. We took a short drive on the parkway and stopped by the Visitor Center to check out the Mountains to Sea Trail. The Visitor Center really cool. It had an interactive map of the entire 469-mile roadway and a bunch of other informational stuff. It seems like it would be an interesting drive, especially during the fall when all the leaves change. The Mountains to Sea Trail runs right past the visitor center and features a short loop trail. The weather was pretty nice so we decided to check it out. The trail was about a mile and a half with a mile of it traveling on the Mountains to Sea trail.

After checking out the visitor center and the trails we headed over to the Highland brewery try a few adult beverages. Breweries are what Asheville is really known for and Highland seemed to be the most popular. We ended up spending a couple hours there and tried a couple different brews. We had a few other breweries circled on the map, but we ended up deciding to save those for another day. Amanda settled on the Leggo my Lager, one of their seasonal/specialty brews. I enjoyed the Highland IPA and the Gaelic Ale. One of the best parts about the Highland brewery, and this is super dorky but fitting for this blog, was that they had a running shirt in their shop. It said 'Run Your Ale Off' which is silly but it had the Highland logo on the back so I pulled the trigger.

Because we are 100 years old we headed to the hotel and ended up getting take out and watching football. We're not really about that nightlife, life. The positive side of not doing much at night was that I got up early to get a run in before we went to the Biltmore. I scoped out a few spots to run and ended up settling on the Bent Creek Experimental Forest. The forest is part of Pisgah National Forest and features a seemingly endless maze of trails and gravel roads. I didn't have a ton of time, I figured I would give myself an hour to explore some trails but I wanted to make sure I didn't get lost and didn't leave Amanda stranded at the hotel by herself without coffee for too long.

It's hard to see all the trails, but I promise there were a ton. I parked at the Hardtimes Trail head and started out linking a couple of the forest service roads until I came across a trail that looked interesting and dipped into the woods. I linked together a few different trails and ended up popping out at the Lake Powhatan Recreational area, which is link a state park. From there I kept exploring the rolling hills. I ran across a local Sunday morning trail running group a few times. This is kind of funny because I was just running out and back but they kept popping up in different places because of the number of trail crossings. It was probably a good idea to try and limit the number of trails I used. It would have been easy to get turned around without a map.

My favorite parts of the run were the rhododendron tunnels. I ran through two or three sections where they bent over the trail and completely closed it in. Despite the fact that I forgot my Nathan pack, I decided to just suck it up and carry my phone and I am glad that I did. I got a couple of really cool pictures of the tunnels.

I ended up running 3.5 miles out, mainly on the Homestead trail, Pine Tree Loop, and Deerfield Loop, then headed back to the car. When I got back to the car, the lot had filled up with runners, bikers, and hikers. I talked to one guy that was heading out for a hike and he gave me a couple of pointers that I filed away for next time. He told me he was heading out on a seven or eight mile loop that climbs up Grassy Knob, a 3000+ foot mountain on the southeastern edge of the park. He also told me about a race called the Shut In Ridge run that follows the Shut In trail 18 miles up to Mount Pisgah. It sounded like a cool race, but that's a long way and it takes place in November, so probably not a realistic one for me. Still thought, it sounds like a badass race. Apparently it's called the Shut In trail or Shut In Ridge because of the rhododendron tunnels, so the scenery is probably pretty cool.

After finishing up my run, I drove back to the hotel to shower and gather up all of our stuff for the day. It turned out to be a little bit of a nicer day than we anticipated, so we headed back to downtown Asheville to get coffee and breakfast. Amanda has officially turned me into a coffee guy. I still prefer a good cup of tea, but I'm all about finding cool coffee shops now too. I feel a little bit like an impressionable youth. Coffee just seems so cool! I want in! Anyway, we went to High Five coffee, which is (according to Gear Patrol) one of the best coffee shops in America. It was expensive as balls. That's all I really got out of it. The coffee I had was solid, but for my money I'll take Mean Mug in Chattanooga or Jittery Joe's in Athens over them any day (or the Honey Dew on 114 in Danvers back home).

After grabbing a coffee we decided to try and find something to eat. That's when we ran across a true gem, Vortex Doughnuts (I still always spell it Donut on the first go around). This place was fantastic. I wanted to eat one of everything. Amanda and I both went with cinnamon & sugar with nutella dark chocolate. Amazing. One of the best doughnuts I've ever had and I am a man who loves a good doughnut. I need to sample more at a place like this, but I'm taking a page out of Phil Gaimon's book and starting to cook up a top 5 doughnuts list.

I'm a traditionalist, so you can keep your cronuts and reeses peanut butter filled diabetes bombs. Without putting them in any order (that comes later) I would say my top doughnuts would be the Maple Bar (TopPot - Seattle, Wash.), Maple Vanilla swirl (Dutch Monkey Donuts - Cumming, Ga.), Sugar Raised (Downy Flake - Nantucket, Mass.), Carmel Apple Fritter/Red Velvet (Sublime Doughnuts - Atlanta, Ga.), Honey Dew (Honey Dew Donuts), Chocolate Glazed (Dunkin Donuts), and the Cinnamon & Sugar Nutella swirl above (Vortex Doughnuts - Asheville, NC. I have some work to do, but that's a start.

To work off a little bit of the sugar high, we walked around downtown a little more an stumbled on Diamond Brand Outdoors which was a cool little outdoor outfitter store. We always love checking places like that out. I'm a sucker for a sticker to throw on my water bottle or something like that and those places always seem to be the best place for that. They had a sweet pair of mitten/gloves that I really wanted but they didn't have them in men's...bummer. After checking out Diamond Brand we made our way to the Biltmore to catch the women's and men's elite CX races.

The Biltmore area was really cool. Clearly they had a historic ordnance in play because all the buildings in the area were built with Victorian looking decor. We grabbed our wristbands for the race and scoped out the area before heading into the Biltmore Estate. The wristbands were a really creative touch. They served as your ticket and I was expecting something like you'd get a club for a concert, or what you get at a stadium when they are checking your bag. You know, the paper strip with adhesive that sticks to your skin and tears your flesh off then you try to take it off. Instead, they gave us rubber wristbands that said Asheville CX 2016 on them (like a livestrong bracelet). I'm a yokel, so I thought that was awesome. Made the admission fee feel a little better since you got a souvenir with it.

We drove onto the Estate and were in awe of how big it was. After making our way to one of the many, many parking lots, we jumped on a shuttle bus that took us to Antler Hill Village where the race course was. Two things about how big the Biltmore is, one - we never actually saw the house - and two - Antler Hill Village was three miles from the front gate. That place is absolutely massive. We bundled up once we got off the bus because the temperature was rapidly dropping. That changed our plans from checking out the course to making a bee line for the food tent. Chili & pizza rolls where huge. We filled up and more importantly warmed up, then made our way to the course to watch the women's race. We wanted to check out the VW tent and sponsor expo but ended up skipping it in favor of watching the race. The expo area had died down a little bit by the start of the race anyway.  

The women's race was a fun one to watch. We got to see Katie F'n Compton win something like her 12 straight national title. She was chased the whole way by Georgia Gould and Kaitlin Antonneau, but it was all Compton. We walked around the course trying to find a good spot. We checked out the barriers and the barn then settled on heckle hill, a viciously steep climb that pretty much had to be run up. It was a good spot because people weren't flying by. I was determined to find a perfect spot for the men's race so with a couple laps to go we started to move again, making our way back towards the finish. Out of nowhere I hear people yelling 'Hey stop!'. After a few shouts I realize that Amanda has stopped, so I look back at her then over at the people that are yelling. To my surprise, I see Ted King trying to find a trail through the woods to come over to where we are.

"Is that an Untapped Maple hat?"
"Yes. Yes it is."
"Did you buy it on the internet?"
"Yes. Yes I did."
"Well, I'm Ted King!"

I forget the rest of the exchange because I was trying not to "fanboy" and embarrass Amanda. Ted was super cool. He was really stoked to see someone wearing the hat so he gave me an Untapped Waffle and we took the picture above. He ended up posting it on the Untapped Instagram and on his blog IAmTedKing. I am definitely killing it at the pro cycling events. At road nationals we got to hangout with Tim Johnson and ride the GRC Beetle and at CX nationals we met Ted King.

After spending a couple minutes with my new best friend we ended up finding a great spot for the men's race. We were right next to the giant flyover and were in position to see the race come by four times each lap. The main event definitely lived up to the billing. After some early fireworks, Jeremy Powers took over at the front and it morphed into a three-man race between him, Stephen Hyde, and Logan Owen. A couple laps in Owen hit out with a big attack but Powers and Hyde pulled him back in and from there the trio battled back and forth until Powers finally broke free with two (maybe three) laps to go. He was relentless. It was really impressive to see him power away and see just how fast these guys go.

We ended up moving around a little after about 30 minutes because it was getting cold. It actually started snowing (flurries but still). We moved to a spot were we could see the finishing straight, a wicked off-camber corner and then where the riders came out of my favorite feature, the barn.

While the heavy hitters up front were the main attraction, the race for the rest of the podium was exciting too. It was cool to see a bunch of the guys I'd see on Behind the Barriers racing up close. It was really cool to see Anthony Clark out there too. He's an interesting dude, definitely an inspirational story and someone who shows that you can do some pretty incredible stuff. I was really happy to hear that he got selected for the Worlds team. For more on this dude check out this video.

Sorry for the detour. Once the race hit the final lap we made our way to the finish in time to see Jeremy Powers seal his fourth national title. We stuck around to see the top three finish then made our way to the bus. This was a great plan. We got to the car and made our way out of the estate fairly quickly then jumped on the highway and headed back to Georgia. Our original plan was to stop in Greenville and grab dinner but we made pretty good time getting out of Asheville, so we drove straight back to the house and settled on pizza and beers at home.

Asheville turned out to be a great trip and a city I'd like to head back to sometime. I think overall I prefer Chattanooga but I'd like to do a little more exploring in Asheville, and hit a few more breweries. I've been pretty enthralled with the idea of microadventures lately and this was a great way to kick off the 2016 slate of them.

CX Nats

The Cyclocross National Championships where held in Asheville, NC this year, so Amanda and I jumped in the car and made the three hour drive up through the mountains to check it out. I'll have a longer post about the overall weekend, what doughnuts I ate, where I ran, etc...

For now, here's a quick video from the elite men's race. Jeremy Powers, Stephen Hyde, and Logan Owen battled for most of the race before Powers dropped the hammer with three laps to go. He was super impressive to watch in person. I was really impressed with Hyde's performance as well. He went down at least twice and kept fighting to finish second. Oh also, I was rocking my Untapped Maple hat and Ted King called me out then came rambling through the woods to take a picture. It was awesome!